Abstract
Scholarship on the luster-painted ceramics produced in Iraq during the high Abbasid Period (ninth and tenth centuries) has traditionally emphasized the stylistic differences among the assemblage most perceptible to art historians today, such as the use of figural versus non-figural imagery, pointing to a change in taste over time. Few studies, however, ask how these objects would have appeared to the audiences for whom they were produced. What did people in Abbasid Iraq expect from a work of craft and what formal qualities were most salient? To what extent are these documented interests resonant with the development of lusterware in the Abbasid Period? In this essay, I argue that the whole range of types possesses visible characteristics that fulfil a significant aesthetic expectation held for works of craft in Abbasid Iraq: that they produce an experience of pleasurable wonder for the beholder, known as ‘ajab in Arabic. Through defining an “aesthetics of ‘ajab,” I suggest that the ostensible differences among the assemblage often emphasized in art-historical scholarship may not have been as significant to Abbasid-period viewers.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callSimilar Papers
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
